A variety of absorbent articles that include different colored regions are available in the market. For instance, absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins and female adult incontinence articles that function to collect fluid discharged from a woman's vagina or urethra sometimes include colored regions to highlight various sections of the absorbent article. For instance the topsheet of the absorbent article may include deformed regions such as apertures proximal the central portion of the absorbent article that are highlighted by color regions that differ in color or shade from portions of the absorbent article remote from the central portion of the absorbent article. Such color regions can be made to provide a perception of depth that corresponds to absorbency. The topsheet may also include other deformed regions such as three dimensional surface structures forming ribs and grooves or tufts in different regions to provide softness and comfort during use. Such three dimensional surfaces can be highlighted by color regions to capture the consumers attentions and enhance the perception of softness. Highlighting three-dimensional features with color can be particularly important and effective for thin, low basis weight substrates, where the presence of the feature may be less noticeable when it is the same color as the region surrounding it. Absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins and diapers have also been known to include decorative designs on other portions of the article such as the backsheet that are appealing to consumers. Such decorative designs can be associated with mechanically deformed regions of the article to highlight functional features such as softness or elasticity.
Similarly, the topsheet of the absorbent article may include topical additives such as lotions or hydrophilic coatings proximal the central portion of the absorbent article that are highlighted by color regions that differ in color from portions of the absorbent article remote from the central portion of the absorbent article. Such color regions can be made to highlight regions including the topical additives. For most applications, it is preferred that the topical additives such as lotions not include colorants that can transfer to a wearer's skin or clothing. As a result, the colored regions and topical additive regions are typically produced independent of one another requiring registration.
High speed manufacturing lines can include equipment and processing to produce deformed regions in web substrates and to apply topical additives such as lotions to web substrates during production of articles such as disposable absorbent articles. Such equipment can represent a significant capital cost to manufacturing. Adding printing capability to the manufacturing process in order to highlight the deformed regions or regions including topical additives represents an additional capital cost and complexity in order to register the printing with the deformed regions and/or regions including the topical additive. For manufacturers to effectively manage the cost, it is advantageous to use existing manufacturing lines to continue manufacturing absorbent articles. In some instances, the approach manufacturers have chosen to provide for colored regions might not be easily adapted in order to provide for colored regions that coincide with other regions due to the crowded nature of the manufacturing line. Thus, if a manufacturer desires to provide for visual elements on deformed regions or regions of the absorbent article including topical additives, the manufacturer might have to retool the manufacturing line to provide for additional printing and registration capabilities, thus incurring significant additional capital cost.
With these limitations in mind, there is a need for providing color change in the regions of a web substrate including deformed regions and/or topical additives that occurs simultaneously with creation of the deformed region or application of the topical additive, thus eliminating the need for registration. In addition there is a need for web substrates having regions including topical additives such as lotion with colored regions that coincide with the topical additives regions that can be manufactured cost effectively using existing manufacturing capability. Still further there is a need for providing absorbent articles with colored regions coinciding with deformed regions and colored regions coinciding with topical additive regions without requiring additional printing or registration capabilities for registering the colored regions with the deformed regions and the topical additive regions.